“You will
all serve Sphidra!” Jets of webbing launched at them from its hind quarters.

Blacktide
put up a wide disintegration field to stop the webs from engulfing them.
Electrode and Atomizer fell back from the heat of Blacktide’s energy power.
Realizing he almost burned them, Blacktide nearly froze but shook it off.

“Get
further behind me!”

“Impressive,
insect, but you will still succumb to Sphidra!”

“Oh come
on! We don’t even know who Sphidra is!” Blacktide shouted, “We don’t know what
Sphidra is! Why don’t you explain it to us? Or are you really just some moron
who put a giant skull on his head?”

Nyhtwulf
worked feverishly to counter the venom in Dreamseer. He could tell Blacktide
was trying to give him time. They needed Dreamseer, but would they have her soon
enough?

“Sphidra is
not this curious fool! Sphidra is power and the god of all arachnid forms! Soon
this puny being will be completely transformed and Sphidra will reign supreme!
Cities will fall!”

“You know,
maybe you shouldn’t tick it off,” Atomizer said.

Blacktide only
shot him a half glare over a shoulder in response.

“No, let
him be, I know what he’s doing,” Electrode said.

“Man I hope
so,” Atomizer said.

“Go on,”
Electrode prompted Blacktide.

“You aren’t
a god! You’re a monster! We’ll never serve you! And I’ll tell you something
else; referring to yourself in third person is really stupid!”

All of the
heroes suddenly clutched at their heads as the psychic shriek filled their
minds. Nyhtwulf was more resistant to it and kept working. It looked like
Dreamseer was finally waking up.

“Ahh, I
said not to tick it off!” Atomizer shouted, “Didn’t I say not to tick it off?”

“Shut up!”
Blacktide shouted back.

Electrode
launched a bolt of lightning in an almost automatic response. The shriek
stopped as Sphidra was momentarily stunned. Sphidra brought one pointed leg forward and
nearly skewered Electrode with it. Instead, it only pierced the rooftop.
Electrode dodged easily but staggered to his knees from the blinding pain in
his skull.

“If you
will not serve, you will die!” it screamed. Its voice was now as painful as the
psychic attack.

Blacktide
clasped his hands into a double fist and lunged for the leg that almost hit
Electrode. With a hard swing, a puff of smoke and a coughing sound, the leg had
to leave its sharp tip in the roof. Sphidra screamed and the leg spewed liquid
goo across the rooftop. Bits rained on all three of them.

“Again?”
Atomizer yelled. “I still don’t have the last spider’s guts off of me!”

“Take it
out on the damn spider, will ya!” Blacktide shouted.

Atomizer
concentrated on the concreted corner of the roof nearest Sphidra. His vision
blurred from the pain of psychic attack. The stone of the corner shuddered as
if it resisted him but then exploded outward. Shards of debris sprayed across
Sphidra. The beast screamed in rage and pain, but still wasn’t defeated.
Injuries to the spider were superficial at the most. Atomizer fell to his knees
with a hand to his head. As he touched his forehead he felt something odd about
his hand. Something poked at him. Atomizer looked at his hand and nearly
fainted. Tiny black hairs were growing from his skin.

Sphidra
swung its other foreleg at Blacktide in rage, only to suffer the same fate as
the previous leg. It screeched in rage and pain, using its psychic abilities to
attack again. This time the heroes were thrown to the ground in agony. Blacktide’s
power disintegrated through the roof and he fell through the hole. Electrode
couldn’t move from where he lay, blinded by pain. Agent Redeagle couldn’t get
up either. Colors flashed before all the heroes’ eyes and they thought their
heads might explode.

On the
floor below the roof, Blacktide landed on someone’s queen sized bed, only
slightly charring it before some control of his powers came back. He screamed
and clutched at his head. He was unable to decipher any of his surroundings
until the pain stopped suddenly. In a
half second the pain vanished totally. Blacktide jumped up and looked through
the hole above. He noticed a slight hole in the upper corner from Atomizer’s
previous attack attempt. Blacktide climbed and stood back on top of the bed and
raised his hand towards that hole in the corner.

On the
roof, Dreamseer stood with Nyhtwulf. It was Dreamseer’s own psyhic abilities
that stopped the pain her teammates suffered. Now she brought herself mind to
mind with Sphidra. In a psychic form she could see the true spider that was
Sphidra. It was terrible to behold. Sphidra had fangs larger than any man and
eyes that glowed with psychic might. This vision of its body was coated in an
exoskeleton of psychic armor. Dreamseer could tell that Sphidra had more than
the power to convert a city. Given time, the beast could convert the world.

“You cannot
stop the will of Sphidra, little Elf,” its voice cracked in her head.

“I don’t
have to stop you, Sphidra, only engage you.”

Nyhtwulf
wasn’t seen leaving the rooftop. The lupine hero vanished into the shadows as
Twilie demons are born to do. He flew through buildings and circled in behind
his prey. When Nyhtwulf flew through the back of Sphidra’s body, it was taken
completely by surprise. Nyhtwulf’s power to disrupt life force shook the great
beast just as a beam of disintegration blasted through the abdomen. Blacktide,
with mental direction form his partner, had focused his power through the upper
corner he was staring at. Having a spiritual and psychic bond with Nythwulf was
as good as having x-ray vision. A very large hole smouldered in the arachnid
body. Sphidra screamed as Nyhtwulf reached the head. The shadowy wolf grasped at
the head and skull of Sphidra while forcing his way forward. The skull became
intangible along with Nyhtwulf and was wrenched free from Sphidra’s body.

Nyhtwulf
landed on the rooftop with the Skull of Sphidra in his clawed hands. Behind
him, the great body shattered and fell to pieces. Some parts burst into flames,
some turned to dust; the rest just fell to the streets below.

Atomizer
looked at his hands. The black hairs vanished. A spider came over the edge of
the roof near him. Before he could react, it shrank before his eyes back to the
average size of a spider.

“Oh yeah,”
Atomizer said as he brought his foot down on it.

“Is
everyone okay?” Agent Redeagle asked as he picked himself up.

“Just fine
now,” Electrode answered.

Blacktide
burst onto the scene from the rooftop door. He nodded to his partner, Nyhtwulf
who held up the skull in triumph.

“Good job,
partner,” Blacktide said.

“I guess
now we can get out of here,” Atomizer said and he wanted to very badly.

“Help me,”
a voice came from the destroyed corner of the building, “Help me, please!”

Redeagle
ran over and found a man, drenched in spidery goo, barely clutching the edge of
the debris. He rescued the man easily and brought him onto the roof.

“Who are
you?” Redeagle asked.

“I’m
Professor Isaac Middleton,” the man tried to say with dignity that just wasn’t
there.

“You put on
the skull,” Dreamseer said.

“Yes, as
your friend said; I’m the moron who put on the skull. It was sent to me in a
package at the University with a note. The note said it was the helm of a an
ancient warrior chief. When I touched it, I was strangely compelled to put it
on.”

“It does
have a psychic pull,” Nyhtwulf said, “but it has little effect on me.”

“So you
weren’t so much of a moron after all,” Blacktide said, “I was just trying to
distract Sphidra anyway. It wasn’t personal.”

“So many
people are dead now because of me,” the Professor said in anguish.

“Well, now
you can do something about that,” Dreamseer said soothingly, “I sense that the
other human beings are changing back. They will need someone to help the city heal.
You can do that, Professor.”

“Yes. Yes.
I suppose I owe that,” the Professor said as the psychic suggestion sank in.

“Then we
have to go now, the rest is up to you,” Dreamseer said.

Practically
on cue, a portal opened to take them back to New York. Dreamseer had mentally
contacted Traveler with the news. They all went through the portal, leaving the
Professor alone on the messy rooftop.

The
Professor looked over himself. His shirt was gone and his pants were in rags.
He was covered in goop. He slowly walked to the rooftop door where he noticed
the little spider on the door frame. Then he noticed another, and another. Soon
there were hundreds around him. Curious, Professor Middleton held out a hand
and several of them scampered onto his palm.

“Oh my,”
the Professor said quietly, “I think I see how this is going to start. I
believe I shall have my own team of heroes to rebuild Chicago. Maybe it’s about
time.”

Back in New
York, Doctor Vampire took the skull and locked it away in a special box.

“Congratulations
all of you,” said Dr. Vampire,” You wouldn’t believe how things went for use
while you were gone.”

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About Me

I am an advocate for autism now sharing my own fantasy universe to show just what people can do in spite of limitations (like my hands). I'm writing an ongoing story on my blogspot, have a facebook fanpage and more. I have one novel being considered by agents.

I want to network and learn with other artists and writers. I also just want to share.